Google Adwords In A Minute

What Is It? Google Adwords is a paid traffic source that can send visitors to your site almost immediately. Typically ads are displayed at the top and on the right hand side of the Google search results pages. There are other options such as display ads and YouTube ads. Most people advertise on a pay per click basis (that is every time someone clicks your ad you pay). What Are The 5 Key Things To Know?

This is just one source of traffic to a website. It’s especially good to get fast visits to a site so you can test how your site converts traffic into customers.

To get this done right you need to use what I call the match, match, match approach. That is the ad matches the keyword chosen, the landing pages matches the ad and the offer matches specifically to the keyword as well.

You MUST have a good process for capturing leads from the ads and following up until they are ready to become a customer or they opt out of your marketing.

You MUST really know your numbers so that you understand the return on investment your ads bring.

It really helps if you understand the value of a customer over their lifetime with your business. If you do then you make radically different marketing decisions.

What Are The 7 Most Common Mistakes To Avoid?

Advertising on the full range of sites such as Google content partners. Not all 3rd party sites are bad but every standard text ad campaign I have seen has received poorer conversions from non-Google sites.

Not carefully tracking exactly what return on investment each ad brings and having too many keywords in a campaign or ad group.

Using keywords that are too broad e.g. plumber when you just offer certain services or work in a specific geographic area only.

Using the wrong type of keyword match types in your ads. This can cause your ads to show for terms that are not as likely to convert into paying customers. My default preference is exact match first and then to test other types separately for conversions.

Not adjusting your ad bids for mobile devices. Mobile searches could be more or less responsive in your niche and should be adjusted accordingly. Also if you don’t have an effective dedicated mobile site or mobile responsive website you are probably wasting money getting visits from these sources.

Using too few ads and landing pages. Ideally you want separate ads and landing pages for different keywords. This may not always be practical but aim for this. You get better ad clicks and responses if you offer specifically what the person wants.

Poor or complex landing pages. Keep your landing page as simple as you can within Google’s guidelines. Make a strong and clear offer to get someone into your marketing funnel and make it a one choice/action focussed page.